Rhine water levels 2023 and similar topics

[travelwiththediva]

47 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

Forecast for the Lower Middle Rhine valley and the Lower Rhine is not bad, I have just read. Most of the rain has gone, it will be dryer and the Moselle is not giving the Rhine that much water. So no major problems out of the ordinary are expected past Koblenz. Cologne authorities are taking flood protection measures but this current flood is regarded as standard and should not lead to a river cruise ban:

https://www1.wdr.de/nachrichten/hochwasser-dezember-nrw-100.html

 

Remember: the river floods every year at least once, in a few years it is nothing to speak of, most years it is normal snow melt, in a few years it is more than we as locals are comfortable with.

 

notamermaid

 

 

Thank you so much for this information.  We will be boarding Viking Alsvin on December 22 in Basel.  Sounds like everything will be ok.

[notamermaid]

49 minutes ago, rcaruso said:

I have seen posts that the Christmas Market Viking Rhine cruises do offer an excursion to Gengenback, there has been a lot of reporting of that and some very nice pictures.

Oh that is great to read. Thank you for the info. It is a lovely area and I have been to Gengenbach, but just passing through in autumn mists to get to another valley.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

20 minutes ago, travelwiththediva said:

Thank you so much for this information.  We will be boarding Viking Alsvin on December 22 in Basel.  Sounds like everything will be ok.

Yes, could work out. The wave is coming towards you, it is the 14th today, so will be in the Netherlands next week, around the 19th. By then being only a "small wave". By then things should be easier in the Upper Rhine valley. Fingers crossed.

 

notamermaid

 

[travelwiththediva]

4 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

Yes, could work out. The wave is coming towards you, it is the 14th today, so will be in the Netherlands next week, around the 19th. By then being only a "small wave". By then things should be easier in the Upper Rhine valley. Fingers crossed.

 

notamermaid

 

We are traveling Zurich to Paris -Basel to Trier.  Thanks 

[notamermaid]

2 hours ago, travelwiththediva said:

We are traveling Zurich to Paris -Basel to Trier.  Thanks 

Oops, sorry my geography was wrong. What was I thinking?! You are going with the flow of course and things look good for that.

 

Will you be in Strasbourg on Christmas Day?

 

notamermaid

 

[travelwiththediva]

We will be in Mainz on Christmas Day.  Just got a change of excursions for Cochem, Trier and Reims due to no Christmas Markets.  They didn't know this before?

[masonpips]

On Uniworld originally Cologne to Basel. We did Heidelberg today which I adore so that was a great add for us as we’re spending an extra night in Basel before flying home so we get the markets on our own

 

Overall I feel Uniworld has handled it well. I was on the same cruise in 2018 and we had to be bussed from Basel to Freiburg and then joined the ship.  They have given us Euros

for meals missed on the ship and we have the Marriott in Basel for our last night. 
 

It’s a crapshoot with the weather but we’ve had a great time with friends and it is what it is!
 

 

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, travelwiththediva said:

We will be in Mainz on Christmas Day.  Just got a change of excursions for Cochem, Trier and Reims due to no Christmas Markets.  They didn't know this before?

Mainz is a nice city I find. A visit to the Dom on the Day for you perhaps? Have a great time, I am sure Viking will have a splendid feast for you.

 

The Christmas markets, well, they are known to mostly end before Christmas Eve. For details of ports that have a market or at least some special display of sorts, like an ice skating rink for example, after Christmas Eve one needs to check every port. Decisions of towns are not normally done at short notice so I am surprised about the change due to no Christmas markets.

 

Have a great time.

 

notamermaid

 

[Pushka]

Strasbourg today was indeed beautiful. Stunning. 

[notamermaid]

Update on Maxau gauge. It has indeed peaked, 841cm early afternoon it was, now it is slowly going down. Current level is 835cm. No chance for river traffic tomorrow and unlikely for Saturday but Sunday looks good.

 

Mainz level should peak on Saturday, the others following in due course. All those gauges will show high levels but for now look to remain below the river traffic ban threshold.

 

notamermaid

 

Edited December 14, 2023 by notamermaid
grammar

[notamermaid]

Strasbourg - that is an interesting city as regards its topography and river cruising. Have you noticed? Brochures show you the lovely old buildings and the excursion boats and the river. But you do not see river cruise ships sailing or docking in Strasbourg. That is because Strasbourg city district is on the Rhine but historic Strasbourg, that tourists are mostly interested in, is not. Strasbourg is on the Ill (see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ill_(France)). Strasbourg has grown towards the Rhine and the alterations to the river and landscape are enormous. See Strasbourg on an old map: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straßburg#/media/Datei:Plan_Strasbourg_1720_(cropped).png

 

The Ill river has even got a new mouth, the Rhine itself was given a new, that means permanent, single river bed and straightened in the 19th century.

 

So, large ships as we know them have never anchored in Strasbourg old town and today there is a massive harbour area. Many ships even dock in Kehl, in Germany opposite Strasbourg.

 

A photo: https://www.strasbourg.port.fr/groupe-pas/nos-missions/

River cruise docking is here: https://www.strasbourg.port.fr/river-tourism/croisieres-sur-le-rhin/?lang=en

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Maxau gauge river level is going down, while further North the levels are rising a lot. No change to prospect of the river ban being lifted on Sunday, same time frame as yesterday.

 

Unfortunately, the authorities are now putting a river traffic ban at Bingen in the high probability range. Which would put Rüdesheim out of an itinerary.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[suspaul]

Just left Viking Alsvin this am around 7am and being bused from Treis Karden to Paris via a stops in Luxembourg and Reims before reaching Paris this evening.

 

Have been doing Christmas in the Rhine & Moselle, Zurich - Paris with hotel stays in each end.  Boarded the Idi (change of boats) on 12.8, cruised to Strasbourg where we docked for several nights outside of town.  We’ve had 1 night cruising.  Did the dreaded ship swap to the Alsvin and spent the last 4 days/nights docked in Treis Karden.  Sadly due to high water levels we’ve been bused everywhere and had quite a few excursions cancelled.

 

Hope future cruises have better luck!

Edited December 15, 2023 by suspaul

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, suspaul said:

Sadly due to high water levels we’ve been bused everywhere and had quite a few excursions cancelled.

 

Such a pity. I am bit surprised about operations on the Moselle. The river is high but river traffic is not banned. Is this logistics or did the ship not fit under bridges? The ones on the Moselle are actually not that low in general, Koblenz bridge may be a bit tight.

 

I hope you got to see Trier. Have a good transfer to Paris.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[SplashOfWater]

1 hour ago, suspaul said:

Just left Viking Alsvin this am around 7am and being bused from Treis Karden to Paris via a stops in Luxembourg and Reims before reaching Paris this evening.

 

Have been doing Christmas in the Rhine & Moselle, Zurich - Paris with hotel stays in each end.  Boarded the Idi (change of boats) on 12.8, cruised to Strasbourg where we docked for several nights outside of town.  We’ve had 1 night cruising.  Did the dreaded ship swap to the Alsvin and spent the last 4 days/nights docked in Treis Karden.  Sadly due to high water levels we’ve been bused everywhere and had quite a few excursions cancelled.

 

Hope future cruises have better luck!

My sister flew into Zurich a couple days ago for a Viking river cruise. They were supposed to be bussed to Basel to pick up their ship but were told that the river was too high and were being bussed to Strasbourg instead. This morning she texted me and stated that the Viking rep was going to tell them that they probably wouldn't do any cruising this week. They'd bus everywhere and spend the night on a different ship (as a hotel?). 

 

She also told me that they were informed the Cochem Christmas market stop was cancelled because it was closed on Dec 20 (their stop date). Looking at the calendar for the market, it only runs this year until Dec 17. You can't tell me that Viking didn't know this in advance.

 

There was no communication about any of this prior to their flights to Zurich. They are currently waiting for the Viking rep to meet with all the passengers and explain what's going on. My sister is beyond disappointed.

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, SplashOfWater said:

There was no communication about any of this prior to their flights to Zurich.

That is not acceptable in my opinion. The river has been closed in Germany close to the French border since Tuesday morning and it was foreseeable two days before it closed and a given 18 hours before it closed. You may want to - or have done - look at prior posts in this thread. Given the chance it should be possible for a passenger to say no to bussing or at least try to reach them before they touch ground. A personal e-mail is possible at short notice in this day and age. Frankly to be brutal I see the old "Viking-non-communication-trick" potentially at play again. We as locals saw this coming but anyone with knowledge of the river - that Viking has in abundance - could tell also. It is not rocket science to look at graphs.

 

If there was an e-mail saying there will be an "alteration to the itinerary" that may be regarded as okay but I do see room for improvement to informing to what that alteration will look like.

 

Again, headline from Tuesday: https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/baden-wuerttemberg/karlsruhe/hochwasser-rhein-bei-karlsruhe-gesperrt-100.html

 

As regards Cochem Christmas market - I thought all dates were published online as is standard practice latest in summer. Large events dates are normally fixed nearly a year prior.

 

notamermaid

 

Edited December 15, 2023 by notamermaid
grammar

[SplashOfWater]

32 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

If there was an e-mail saying there will be an "alteration to the itinerary" that may be regarded as okay but I do see room for improvement to informing to what that alteration will look like.

Thank you @notamermaid

 

My sister said there was no notification ahead of their travel to Zurich. I agree that Viking should have been aware of the river levels and communicated that to the passengers that were scheduled to travel to this cruise.

 

My sister, brother-in-law and other passengers have arrived in Strasbourg where they are scheduled to board the Viking Idi. Once all the passengers arrive, the Viking rep will meet with them to go over what's going on. 

[notamermaid]

I have just read that Basel Rheinhalle gauge has dropped below 790cm. That means the ban on river traffic in the Basel area has been lifted. Please note that this is only the stretch from Basel to Birsfelden. But this at least means the river level is falling and the volume of water is reduced. There are still some rivers in Switzerland that are carrying a high volume. With nearly no rain added over the weekend things look promising.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Still touch and go at Bingen for tomorrow, Kaub level should stay under the river traffic ban threshold. Maxau gauge still very high, 808cm. Virtually no chance for river traffic tomorrow.

 

As I have a busy weekend ahead, I cannot say when I will be able to report next.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

2 hours ago, SplashOfWater said:

My sister said there was no notification ahead of their travel to Zurich. I agree that Viking should have been aware of the river levels and communicated that to the passengers that were scheduled to travel to this cruise.

 

Bold letters are by me. I am convinced they were aware of the river levels... Just the communication was not there.

 

I hope your family can get some semblance of a cruise and can enjoy the ports they will be able to see.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Update. Maxau gauge still too high - 779cm. 750cm forecast for tomorrow evening. Bingen peaked this morning with a good 10 centimetres to spare below the river traffic ban threshold. Kaub peaked just before lunch well below the threshold. Koblenz has also peaked. The wave is just passing through Cologne and the level will fall noticeably there soon.

 

So no further problems of note for the Middle and Lower Rhine valleys from what the graphs tell us.

 

A short video (as always, ignore the German commentary if you wish), just to show you the appealing village of Leutesdorf in flooding. It may look dramatic at first, but it is all standard stuff that people are used to and notice that the buildings are away from the promenade and often have a cellar on the ground floor and people live on the first floor. Their forebears knew why they built them like this.

https://www.ardmediathek.de/video/swr-aktuell-rheinland-pfalz/rhein-hochwasser-ueberflutet-promenade-in-leutesdorf/swr-rp/Y3JpZDovL3N3ci5kZS9hZXgvbzE5NzE1MTY

When the man and the woman walk through the old gate you can see the markings on the wall, the river can get much higher there.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[travelwiththediva]

1 hour ago, notamermaid said:

Update. Maxau gauge still too high - 779cm. 750cm forecast for tomorrow evening. Bingen peaked this morning with a good 10 centimetres to spare below the river traffic ban threshold. Kaub peaked just before lunch well below the threshold. Koblenz has also peaked. The wave is just passing through Cologne and the level will fall noticeably there soon.

 

So no further problems of note for the Middle and Lower Rhine valleys from what the graphs tell us.

 

A short video (as always, ignore the German commentary if you wish), just to show you the appealing village of Leutesdorf in flooding. It may look dramatic at first, but it is all standard stuff that people are used to and notice that the buildings are away from the promenade and often have a cellar on the ground floor and people live on the first floor. Their forebears knew why they built them like this.

https://www.ardmediathek.de/video/swr-aktuell-rheinland-pfalz/rhein-hochwasser-ueberflutet-promenade-in-leutesdorf/swr-rp/Y3JpZDovL3N3ci5kZS9hZXgvbzE5NzE1MTY

When the man and the woman walk through the old gate you can see the markings on the wall, the river can get much higher there.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

Thanks for the update. 

[notamermaid]

17 hours ago, travelwiththediva said:

Thanks for the update. 

My pleasure.

 

Maxau gauge is at 757cm. Forecast yesterday more or less suggested this for tonight, with the prospect of the level dropping below 750cm. Well, the evening still has a few hours.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Maxau gauge is at 754cm.

 

To give you a timeline to work with - I mean just in case it is useful for insurance purposes - here is Maxau gauge:

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Maxau gauge has just dropped to 750cm, later than expected. The authorities hopefully will give the go-ahead soon.

 

notamermaid